Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PUSH-IT (Piloting Underground Storage of Heat In geoThermal reservoirs)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-01-01 bis 2024-04-30
Heating and cooling represent around 50% of the final energy demand in Europe and are mainly supplied by fossil fuel derived energy. It is therefore essential for heating and cooling to decarbonise to achieve EU ambitions. A challenge for decarbonizing heat systems is the seasonal mismatch between demand for heat and heat generation from sustainable sources – this mismatch is much larger than the equivalent intermittency in electricity supply and demand. PUSH-IT will showcase full-scale application of high temperature heat storage (up to 90°C) in geothermal reservoirs using 3 different technologies at 6 different sites. The 3 technologies addressed in PUSH-IT are relevant for different reservoir types, which are available everywhere in Europe. In PUSH-IT we develop, deploy and test our technologies for a variety of configurations of heat sources, heat storage technologies, geological conditions, distribution systems, stakeholder populations and market and legal conditions. These results will enhance the utilisation of sustainable energy and create a balanced system for sharing benefits and burdens tied to sustainable heat generation, storage and distribution activities.
We will reduce environmental impact, levelised cost of energy and risks and improve performance and robustness via development and demonstration of several enabling technologies, i.e. newly developed monitoring and water quality control and novel drilling and completion and novel control systems. Societal engagement is a key element and achieved via citizen engagement, analysing motivations and perceptions of heat storage, and investigating governance policies and business models that engage citizens in decision making regarding urban heating systems including storage.
We will reduce environmental impact, levelised cost of energy and risks and improve performance and robustness via development and demonstration of several enabling technologies, i.e. newly developed monitoring and water quality control and novel drilling and completion and novel control systems. Societal engagement is a key element and achieved via citizen engagement, analysing motivations and perceptions of heat storage, and investigating governance policies and business models that engage citizens in decision making regarding urban heating systems including storage.
For all sites preparations and initial installations and various activities are ongoing. Key advances are collection of core material at initial drillings in Delft, Litomerice and Berlin, as well as water quality reference sampling in Delft, Berlin and United Downs. Some delays are experienced due to complex system, slow decision making / permitting, lack of standards, or lack of available materials/human resources. Co-simulation and control activities generally lag behind a bit, but not on the critical path yet.
Local stakeholders have been identified; site-specific stakeholder engagement plan is drafted. The over-all levelised costs of heat storage in the subsurface (LCOE) analysis/simulations for site has started, still ongoing.
Societal engagement: Preparatory work for future milestones/deliverables: including baseline survey and interviews with PUSH-IT consortium of perceptions of engagement, development of online tracker to monitor engagement, and regular meetings with sites to support engagement, and ongoing webinar series on best practices.
Regulation and Policy: Desk-based review of existing regulations at the project sites supported with specific inputs and information provided by site leaders. A participatory session with site leads was used to gather additional inputs about project status, planning and permitting, and to identify stakeholders for the site interviews (scheduled Q3 2024 and Q2 2025).
Techno-economics: Preliminary development of two open-source simulation tools is underway: a model to simulate the techno-economic performance of the technologies, and a tool to identify LCOE and carbon emissions reference heating systems without heat storage.
Drilling: A SWOT analysis has formed the basis of the current technology development and testing plans, which has been integrated with the site plans. For example, casing while drilling with current technology proved to require drill rig development for which resource has been allocated. The performance of other various well technological components is ongoing. Fibre optics form the main sensoring technology, with progress following site progress.
Control: Initial specifications of control objectives and scope have been established following a thorough analysis of the systems and the storage technologies. The Delft site has the most complete specification and the translation into mathematical formulation is ongoing.
Water quality: A site-by-site approach was used to draw a clear picture of each site’s water quality aspects, and integration with the site activities to enable sampling or access to sampling. Sampling has been carried out at Delft, Darmstadt and Berlin, with experimental protocol development and modelling being initiated.
Performance assessment: Hot Push-Pull Tests are planned for Berlin and Delft site, with the protocol and equipment design for Berlin having been drafted and input into site permits. The E-GRT was performed in Darmstadt providing the first results to evaluate reservoir performance. Co-simulation methodology and procedures have been clarified for each site. Models run for Darmstadt and are currently being built for the other two demo sites.
Local stakeholders have been identified; site-specific stakeholder engagement plan is drafted. The over-all levelised costs of heat storage in the subsurface (LCOE) analysis/simulations for site has started, still ongoing.
Societal engagement: Preparatory work for future milestones/deliverables: including baseline survey and interviews with PUSH-IT consortium of perceptions of engagement, development of online tracker to monitor engagement, and regular meetings with sites to support engagement, and ongoing webinar series on best practices.
Regulation and Policy: Desk-based review of existing regulations at the project sites supported with specific inputs and information provided by site leaders. A participatory session with site leads was used to gather additional inputs about project status, planning and permitting, and to identify stakeholders for the site interviews (scheduled Q3 2024 and Q2 2025).
Techno-economics: Preliminary development of two open-source simulation tools is underway: a model to simulate the techno-economic performance of the technologies, and a tool to identify LCOE and carbon emissions reference heating systems without heat storage.
Drilling: A SWOT analysis has formed the basis of the current technology development and testing plans, which has been integrated with the site plans. For example, casing while drilling with current technology proved to require drill rig development for which resource has been allocated. The performance of other various well technological components is ongoing. Fibre optics form the main sensoring technology, with progress following site progress.
Control: Initial specifications of control objectives and scope have been established following a thorough analysis of the systems and the storage technologies. The Delft site has the most complete specification and the translation into mathematical formulation is ongoing.
Water quality: A site-by-site approach was used to draw a clear picture of each site’s water quality aspects, and integration with the site activities to enable sampling or access to sampling. Sampling has been carried out at Delft, Darmstadt and Berlin, with experimental protocol development and modelling being initiated.
Performance assessment: Hot Push-Pull Tests are planned for Berlin and Delft site, with the protocol and equipment design for Berlin having been drafted and input into site permits. The E-GRT was performed in Darmstadt providing the first results to evaluate reservoir performance. Co-simulation methodology and procedures have been clarified for each site. Models run for Darmstadt and are currently being built for the other two demo sites.
PUSH-IT will go beyond the state of the art via (i) demonstrating seasonal high temperature heat storage from multiple sources in geothermal reservoirs, (ii) engaging with society, proposing legal instruments and economic models and (iii) developing and demonstrating technologies needed to integrate heat storage into heating systems resulting in lower CO2 emissions and costs. The main achievements/activities during this first reporting period needed to meet the results, are the following:
- Installed:
o insulated BTES, Novel thermal response tests being carried out,
- Ongoing preparations
o to ensure novel integration of HT heat storage in different subsurface and surface conditions across Europe.
o for enabling technologies for successful HT-ATES application: Water treatment & monitoring, well drilling method and completion.
o for targeting abandoned mine and CFD simulations for heat propagation in mine galleries and monitoring (ATES/BTES) of energy performance and subsurface temperature distribution.
o for novel co-simulation and control of heat storage system integration.
o for stakeholder engagement, modelling LCOE and policy and regulations analysis.
- Installed:
o insulated BTES, Novel thermal response tests being carried out,
- Ongoing preparations
o to ensure novel integration of HT heat storage in different subsurface and surface conditions across Europe.
o for enabling technologies for successful HT-ATES application: Water treatment & monitoring, well drilling method and completion.
o for targeting abandoned mine and CFD simulations for heat propagation in mine galleries and monitoring (ATES/BTES) of energy performance and subsurface temperature distribution.
o for novel co-simulation and control of heat storage system integration.
o for stakeholder engagement, modelling LCOE and policy and regulations analysis.